Electrical piano



, UNITE STATES ATENT Fries.

GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ELECTRIC SELF-PLAYING PIANO COMPANY,

OF NEW JERSEY.

ELECTRICAL PIANO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 546,582, datedSeptember 17', 1895.

Application filed June 17 1 8 9 5.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented a certain new, useful, and valuable Improvement inElectrical Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention has for its especial objects, first, to provide aconstruction which can be applied as an attachment to any piano whateverwithout injuring it in the least or affecting its ordinary use, while inapplying other forms of attachments it has been necessary to makenumerous alterations and use a large clumsy roller in front of thepiano, requiring an expert to apply it; second, to provide amusic-holder of extremely small dimensions, which may be placed entirelyout of sight if desired, whereas the music-drawers of other attachmentsnow on the market are so largeas to interfere with the knees of theperformer, and, furthermore, to provide a music-holder which can beplaced at any distance away from the piano; third, to provide anattachment which will repeat a particular note faster than can be doneeven by an expert performer, thus making it possible to giveasatisfactory reproduction of heavy classical music; fourth, to providean attachment which can be .man ufactured at a comparatively lower costthan any now on the market, fifth, to provide an attachment which isadapted to use very thin music-paper instead of heavy thick paper.

Proceeding with a detail description of my invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andin which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a piano having my attachmentapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same,and also of the music-holder and keyboard. Fig. 3 is a detail front Viewof the frictionroller, friction-shoe, magnet-bars, 850. Fig. at isaviewof the under side of the music-holder, andFig. 5 is a detail view of thepedal action.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts recurring intwo or more views.

I prefer to employ as a motive power an electric motor 1, located in'thebottom of the Serial No. 553,162. (No model.)

piano, (see Fig. 1,) having a cone-pulley 2, giving motion to thedriving-belt 3, the pulley 4t and the friction-roller 5 bearing in theboxes 6 of the suspension-arms 6 rigidly secured to the wood-support 8',which is itself detachably secured to the under part of the piano, andupon which nearly my entire action is suspended.

Upon the angle-bar 9 are secured a series of electromagnets 9, thearmatures 9 of which are pivoted in the cleats 9 adjustably secured bythe screws 9, and to the free ends of said armatures are pivotallysecured a series of friction-shoes 8, having the arms 8, to the ends ofwhich latter are pivotally secured the striker-rods 12, which engage therear ends of the keys 27, which keys operate the upper action of thepiano in the usual way. Above the angle-iron 9 is located a smallerangle-iron 13, holding the adjustment or bumperscrews 28, regulating theupward movement of the armatures 9 when drawn up by the spring 11,connecting it with the adjustment-screws 1O. To the rear of saidangle-iron is secured a wood strip 13, upon the top edge of which thewires 9 leading from the respective magnets 9, are joined to the wires23 leading from the music-holder 22 23, said music-holder consisting oftwo partsfirst, the upper part having the Wood piece 23 bound on eitheredge by the metal strips 23, to the front ends of which are pivoted theswinging arms 22, and the rear ends having the'latches 23? pivotedthereto, said latches having a rod 23 connecting their upper ends, andto the center of which rod is attached the draw-bar 23 terminating inthe hook 23 which, upon being pulled forward, disengages the latches andallows the lower part 22 to swing down and throws the roller 22 out ofengagement or contact with the metal contact-fingers 23 to which thewires 23* are connected. The swinging arms 22 also pivotally support thetwo music-rollers 22 and 22, the latter having the music-paper 22permanently secured thereto, said paper being provided at its free endwith a loop 22 which sets over the pin 22 of the roller 22 the latteracting as what is known as a live roller,

and gradually winds the music-paper 22 upon itself when revolved by thecable 29, extended to a pulley on the friction-roller 5 and given motionthereby. The pedal-bars or dampers are actuated by simply extending thetwo bars 30 31 downward instead of upward from the ends 8" of thefriction-shoes and connecting said bars to the regular pedal-bars 30 31;but, as it requires some little power to draw up the pedal-bars andactuate the dampers, I prefer to attach the rods 30 31, each between twoof the shoes 8, as shown at Fig. 5.

The operation of the complete device is substantially as follows: First,suppose the lower part of the music-holder to be down, then the roller22, holding the music-paper, is set into the bearings 22 22- of anysuitable construction, after which the free end of the paper is carriedover the roller 22, and the loop set over the pin 22", when the swingingarms 22 are thrown up until engaged and held by the latches 23, afterwhich the electric current is turned on and the motor started, whereuponthe roller 5, the cable 29, and the roller 22 will be set in motion, andthe music-paper 22 slowly advanced and wound around the roller 22, andin passing over the roller 22 it slowly revolves it, thus causing it topresent clean and new contactsurfaces to the ends of the contact-fingers23 whenever they project through their respective perforations. Eachfinger22 is connected by the wire 28 and 9 to its respective magnet S),which when energized by its finger contacting with the roller, whichacts as a ground or general contact, its armature 9 carrying at its endthe friction-shoe 8, is drawn down and the friction-shoe thrown intocontact with the friction-roller 5 and is carried forward thereby to theposition shown by the dotted lines, and at the same time the striker-arm12 is thrown up and acts against the rear of the key 27, which in turnactuates the strikers or hammers of the piano in the usual way, eachnote being prolongated according to the length of its respectiveperforation or slot in the music paper; but immediately the finger comesto the end of the perforation the paper insulates it from the roller,the magnet instantly becomes demagnetized, its armature 9 is drawn up bythe spring 11, and the friction-shoe raised and allowed to fall backinto its normal position. The pedalrods 30 31 are actuated in preciselythe same manner, it being necessary under the arrange ment shown to havethe slots in the paper which actuate the pedal magnets or dampers muchlonger than those which actuate the note magnets.

It is obvious that the music-holder can be set at any distance from thepiano by having a cable of wires run from it to the piano.

Various modifications can be made in the construction and arrangement ofparts herein shown without avoiding the spirit of my invention.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. In an electrical piano, the combination with arevolving roller or drum, of a friction shoe pivoted above said rollerand adapted to be brought into contact therewith, an electro-magnetarranged adjacent to and having its armature connected with the shoe,and a connection between the latter and the keys of a piano,substantially as described.

2. In an electrical piano, the combination with a revolving roller ordrum, of a friction shoe pivotally mounted above said drum and providedwith a rearwardly extending arm, an electromagnet located in front ofand hav ing its armature-lever connected to the shoe, and a connectionbetween therearwardiy extending arm and the strikers or hammers of apiano, substantially as described.

3. In an electrical piano, the combination with a drum and means forrevolving the same, of a series of friction shoes pivotally mountedabove the drum and each provided with a rearwardly extending arm, aseries of electro' magnets corresponding to and arranged in front of theshoes, pivoted arnntture'levers connected to said shoes and adapted whenenergized to bring thelatter into contact with the drum, and a rodconnecting each rearwardly extending arm with the keys or strikers of apiano, substantially as described.

4. In an electrical piano, the combination with a revolving roller ordrum, of a series of friction shoes pivotally mounted above the drum andeach provided with a rearwardly extending arm which has a connectionwith the keys of the piano, a plurality of electromagnets arranged infront of and having their armature-levers connected to the shoes, a perforated music sheet and holder, and gearing intermediate the rotary drumand music sheet whereby the latter is advanced or fed during therotation of the drum, substantially as described.

5. In an electrical piano, the combination with means for electricallyoperating the keys, or a rotary note'sheet holder hinged at one end tothe piano and adapted to be swung down out of position, and catchessecured to the piano and adapted to support the sheet holder inoperative position, substantially as described.

(5. In an electrical piano, the combination with a revolving drum, of aseries of friction shoes pivotally mounted above the drum and eachprovided with a rearwardly extending arm having a connection with thestriker arms of the piano, a series of electro-magnets arranged in frontof and having their armaturelevers connected with the shoes, a springfor normally holding the armature levers raised, and means for limitingthe upward movement of the latter, substantially as described.

7. In an electrical piano, the combination with a rotary drum, of aseries of friction shoes pivoted above the drum and provided withrearwardly extending arms having a connection with the strikers of thepiano, a series of electro magnets arranged in front of said shoesandhaving their armature levers connected thereto, a music sheet holder ICChaving one end pivoted to the under side of the piano key-board and itsother end being detachably connected to the latter, a rotary contactroller carried by the music holder and over which the note sheet passes,and a plurality of contact fingers bearing upon said roller, as and forthe purpose described.

8. In an electrical piano, the combination with a rotary drum, of aseries of friction shoes pivotally mounted above the latter and providedwith rearwardly extending arms having a connection with the keys of thepiano, an angle-bar mounted in front of said shoes, a series of magnetsarranged upon said anglebar and having their armature levers connectedwith the shoes,a contact roller having electric connection with themagnets, a note sheet, and electrically connected contact fingersbearing upon said roller, substantially as described.

9. In an electrical piano, the combination with a rotary drum, of anelectric motor for imparting motion thereto, a series of friction shoespivotally mounted above the drum and having rearvvardly extending armswhich are 2 5 connected to the strikers of the piano, an angle-platemounted in front of the shoes, a series of electro magnets mounted uponthe angle-plate and provided with adj ustably arranged armature-leverswhich are connected at their forward ends to the shoes, a notesheetholder hinged at one end to the piano and having its other enddetachably connected thereto, a pair of rotary note cylinders mountedupon the holder, an intermediate rotary contact roller, contact fingersadapted to bear upon said roller, and a belt and pulleys arrangedbetween one of said rotary note cylinders and the rotary drum wherebythe rotary movement of the latter will be imparted to the former,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS Witnesses:

ISAAC I-I. HUNTER, RICH T. NEWTON.

